coasts, capable of working across the country with the democrats and reasonable in its politics and principles. eisenhower republicans they were called in the 1950s, moderate on domestic matters. when you went to vote, you had a choice. you could look at the candidates and think who is the best. not like today where one political party holds views so out there that many don't feel they have any real choice when they get out into the voting booth. we'll see. it's an historic decision. that's "hardball" for now. thanks for being with us. "politicsnation" with al sharpton starts right now. change, chris. and thanks to you for tuning in. time and time again the gop has proven that they love to play power politics. so now they are getting a dose of their own medicine. president obama has thrown down the gauntlet on taxes and while

the gop is stomping its feet at making the wealthy to pay a bit more, he's making his pitch to the people. at a toy factory today, he warned them to play nice. >> joe biden was in costco. he wanted to buy some of this stuff. but i told him he had too much work to dochl i wasn. i told him he wasn't going to build roller coasters all day long. of course, santa delivers everywhere. i've been keeping my own naughty and nice list for washington. so you should keep your eye on who gets come kinects this year. there are going to be some members of congress who get them and some who don't. >> what sort of plan do you give the republican who won't agree with anything? this one, of course. the president is asking for a

$1.6 trillion tax increase, $50 billion in economic stimulus, and the power to raise the debt limit without congressional approval. meanwhile, he will work the fine savings in entitlements. not to the man sitting on the naughty list. senator mcconnell said that he burst into laughter at the proposal. you know what is really funny, senator mcconnell, the president has the leverage. speaker boehner know it is. >> you think the white house is trying to squeeze you and, if so, will that work? >> well, most of you know me pretty well. what you see is what you get. and while i may be a fchl fable and someone who can work with members of both parties, which i've demonstrated over the 22 years that i've been here, i'm also rather dernled to spend our spending problems. >> i don't hear an answer to the

question. here's a hint. you are being squeezed. the president has 64 million votes behind him and he has 36 congressional republicans distancing themselves from the anti-tax pledge. and, oh yeah, the simple matter of fairness. if the gop doesn't agree to a deal, they will be responsible for playing the part of scrooge this holiday. >> if congress does nothing, every family in america will see their income taxes automatically go up on january 1st. every family, everybody here, you'll see your taxes go up on january 1st. i mean, i'm assuming that doesn't sound too good to you. that's sort of like the lump of coal you get for christmas. that's a scrooge christmas. >> that's a scrooge christmas

all right. but this president is going to do everything he can to stop it. >> i've got a bunch of pens ready to sign this bill. i'm ready to sign. there are no shortages of pens in the white house and i carry one around for an emergency just in case. just waiting for the chance to use it to sign this bill to make sure people's taxes don't go up. >> he's got the pen and the power. from the look on speaker boehner today, he's getting the message. joining me now is chris hayes, host of "up with chris hayes" here on msnbc and melissa harris-perry, host of melissa-harris perry on msnbc. thank you both for being here. melissa, it does seem that president obama has shifted his tactics this time around and it's all about using his power. >> yes. in this case we have to remember that nothing has fundamentally

changed structurally as these players. it's the same lame duck congress. the new 113 is not seated yet. the power in this case is really the power of percent situation, the ability to convey two things. one, that the american people voted for him based on the sets of issues that are now before the country on the fiscal cliff issue and, secondly, he has to be convincing that republicans will be punished at the ballot box next time if they don't come to a deal. >> but, chris, speaker boehner keeps arguing for cuts but the second time in as many days he declined to name any of the cuts that the gop would make. they seem to be on the defensive. they refuse to give any specifics on what they offer, any deal. republicans want entitlement cuts but often no specifics. they say they will accept new revenue but offer no specifics. say they will make concessions on tax deductions, offer no

specifics. they seem to really be on the defensive this time. >> not only are we fresh off an election, which this stuff was intensely litigated. we're not talking about subsidiary issues that didn't get enough attention. we're talking about the stuff that was the first stuff that got said in every debate. the position of raising taxes on the top 2% is incredibly popular. it even polls among the majority of some republicans in some polls. cutting medicare, medicaid is is not popular. in fact, much of the election was over each side trying to convince the american people that it was the other side that wanted to go after medicare specifically. >> yes, absolutely. >> so now we have to do something about the cost of medicare but no one wants to be the first person to come out and say, we're taking the scissors and -- >> giving no specifics, are they hoping it's boehner, hoping that the democrats will come back with a more conservative

proposal, or is he wanting them to say something so he can just disagree with whatever it is? >> i think it depends on what we think it is that the president is hoping for. the fact is, the president could go over this fiscal cliff and at least politically for him there's not a lot of cost to it. there's some real cost to american families and particularly to the most vulnerable. the president from that position may certainly be trying to pull us back from it. but politically there's no reason not to head over. yes, you'll see your taxes increase on january 1st. but you don't have to write a check on january 2nd. he'll have time, then, to introduce the obama tax cuts and basically dare the republican -- the 113th congress not to vote for him. >> when he puts out his plan, then you hear, chris, i was very intrigued by the statement that charles made on fox, that the obama offer is worse than what was offered to general lee at the end of the civil war.

listen to this. >> it's not just a bad deal. this is really an insulting deal. what git near offered on the screen, robert e. lee was offered better deals and he lost the civil war. this is almost unheard of. mine, what do they expect? they obviously expect republicans to cave on everything. i think republicans ought to simply walk away. >> chris, i think with lincoln outdone, i think he could have used a better analogy. >> look, the funny thing is the end of that statement, which is, i keep saying, rush limbaugh keeps saying, walk away. walk away. if they walk away, all of the taxes go up. the delicious irony, i will note, is to have them sunset so the cost was lower than what it

would be if therm permanent and the can was kicked down the road two years ago when we had that lame duck and now it's coming back to bite them because it's going to expire and blow up in the republican party's face when it was the republican party who wanted to put a timeline on it in the first place to get them passed. >> and general lee -- i'll refrain from saying who general lee was. >> i think many, many would argue that the generosity of the terms given to general lee at the end of the civil war is precisely why we end up with a system of jim crow with a very short reconstruction and having to fight the battle 100 years again with the civil rights movement. good. i think many would make similar claims about world war i and world war ii. if he's trying to make a claim for really van gishing your

enemies, that would do it. >> since they took over the house, they've stopped anything from getting done. congress is on track to become the least productive congress since 1947. how much pressure does that put on boehner to make a deal? >> you know, i think it's a really interesting open question, for this reason. they have managed to defy the laws of political gravity in that respect for basically the first four years. their idea is the normal idea of political gravity is that we have to go back to our districts and campaign on something. we have to tell them things that we have done and they have been relatively successful in not obeying that. the question is, does this election change their mind of what their incentives are? >> this is one of the basic rules of american congress, congress vote yes. up don't need to know what the topic or bill is. they tend to move legislation forward. but the very fact that they are a do nothing congress may work

in the president's favor. it's the dominant strategy in this particular came. >> that's why it's so clever, right? the way they've set this up is to exploit the biggest weakness of the republican obstruction which is the thing that they are best at doing is doing nothing. >> the problem is, they have defied political gravity. they did not defy election gravity. they lost. >> chris hayes, melissa harris-perry, thanks. have a great weekend and be sure to catch up with chris hayes. "up with chris hayes" is the name of the show saturdays and sundays from 8:00 a.m. to 10:00 a.m. eastern and melissa harris-perry saturdays and sundays starting at 10:00 a.m. coming up, whol would ronald reagan be siding with? think again. and he's back after his on

air meltdown and laughing like we did in the office today. and bo obama takes us on a tour of the white house. you're watching "politicsnation" on msnbc. it's official. powerball officials say two people had the right number to win the $580 million jackpot. two people. yeah. so congratulations to the lucky winners. mitt and ann romney. >> oh, 580 million, just throw it on the pile. >> yeah. [ male announcer ] introducing the new dell xps 12. part of a whole new line of tablets from dell. it's changing the conversation. ♪ it's changing the conversation. if we want to improve our schools...

... what should we invest in?e maybe new buildings? what about updated equipment? they can help, but recent research shows... ... nothing transforms schools like investing in advanced teacher education. let's build a strong foundation. let's invest in our teachers so they can inspire our students. let's solve this. maybe you want to incorporate a business. or protect your family with a will or living trust. and you'd like the help of an attorney. at legalzoom a legal plan attorney is available in most states with every personalized document to answer questions. get started at legalzoom.com today. and now you're protected.

have you joined the "politicsnation" conversation on facebook yet? i hope you will. speaker boehner's decision to

finally a woman. diane says, he must have looked through one of mitt's binders of women. that's a good one. and linda said, if women were in charge of all of the committees, they might be able to get something done. we'll have a lot more on boehner's new chairman. but, first, we want to hear what you think. please head over to facebook and search "politicsnation" and "like" us to keep the conversation going long after the show ends. [ male announcer ] alka-seltzer plus presents the cold truth.

i have a cold, and i took nyquil, but i'm still "stubbed" up. [ male announcer ] truth is, nyquil doesn't unstuff your nose. what? [ male announcer ] it doesn't have a decongestant. no way. [ male announcer ] sorry. alka-seltzer plus fights your worst cold symptoms plus has a fast acting decongestant to relieve your stuffy nose. [ sighs ] thanks! [ male announcer ] you're welcome. that's the cold truth! [ male announcer ] alka-seltzer plus. ♪ oh what a relief it is! ♪ [ male announcer ] to learn more about the cold truth and save $1 visit alka-seltzer on facebook. that makes tv even better. if your tv were a space captain, zeebox would be an alien, first officer. just like an officer helps a captain explore the universe, zeebox helps you discover what shows are most popular, where the biggest buzz is, or what the stars are watching now. download zeebox free, and let your tv go where it's never gone before.

the debate in washington is revealing just how extreme republicans have become and how far they have drifted from their idol, ronald reagan. they think he's one of the greatest, that he believes on mt. rushmore. in fact, there's been a push for years to get him up there. but republicans have a big problem. reagan is too liberal for today's gop. attacking the president's tax plan saying, quote, where are the spending cuts, medicare, medicaid, and now obama care and social security? he goes on to say, quote, democrats pretend that social security is coming through 2033 but its trust fund except that

it's a fiction. really? here's what mr. reagan thought about all that. >> social security has nothing to do with the deficit. social security is totally funded by the payroll tax levied on employer and employee. if you reduce the outgo of social security, that money would not go into the general fund to reduce the deficit. it would go into the social security trust fund. so social security has nothing to do with balancing a budget or erasing or lowering the deficit. >> social security has nothing to do with the deficit. it's not president obama saying that. it's president reagan, their hero. and he also said this. >> we're going to close the unproductive tax loopholes that allowed the truly wealthy to avoid pay their fair share. in theory, some of those loopholes were understandable but in practice they sometimes made it possible for millionaires to pay nothing

while a bus driver was paying 10% of their salary. that's crazy. do you think the millionaire ought to pay more in taxes or less? >> a millionaire should pay less in taxes than a bus driver. that's what this whole debate in washington right now is all about. joining me now is e.j. dionne from "the washington post." thank you for your time tonight. >> good to be with you, reverend. >> what do you think when you compare reagan in clips like that kind of talk we're hearing from john boehner today? >> you know, i do sometimes think that ronald reagan might well lose a republican primary these days because he's too moderate. somebody once said it's better than it sounds. and reagan governed in a far more moderate way than he talked before he became a politician. and i think particularly in the last four years something

happened to conservatism and the republican party. my friends, tom man and norm stein got a lot of attention for their book. it's worse than what it looks. the republicans have become more radical and more determined to roll back not only parts of the new deal but parts of the great society. i don't think john boehner himself is that far to the right but he's got to worry about this caucus of his that i think does contain a lot of people who fit into that radical category and it's created a real problem for our politics, particularly in the last two years. >> and they also don't seem to really deal with facts because when you really dig down into it, the average tax rates for income 50 to $75,000, taxes were actually higher under reagan. in 2009, it was 27%. in '81 under reagan, it was 31%.

so they are really selling a myth. they made reagan this great hero but when you actually watch, using your term how reagan governed, it is not exactly -- well, it's not even near what they are advocating. >> right. in fact, you wouldn't know it from the campaign commercials of the last campaign but taxes have been lower under barack obama than they have been in years. not only because we kept the bush tax cuts going and i wish he hadn't made that earlier deal but he did, but also because he gave a lot of tax cuts to people in the middle and at the bottom. and so the notion that we could govern ourselves at a time when the baby boom is starting to retire with that very low level of revenue, it just doesn't make any sense. if we kept revenue where it is, we'd have to slash those programs in a way that none of the public wants to do. so all obama is calling for is

an increase on rates at the top and i think the republicans deep down know that that's where the people are because they've at least given signals they are prepared to raise those taxes. they are just not ready to do it the cleanest way, which is to top the rates. >> i think they know deep down the public is ready to do it. i also suspect they know deep down that a lot of what they are selling doesn't really meet the facts. for example, when eric cantor was doing a "60 minute "interview, "60 minutes" was exposing the gop's denial of the real reagan record. watch what happens when the far rights starts becoming confronted with facts. look at this. >> you know, your idol, as i've read, is ronald reagan. he compromised.

>> he never compromised principles. >> well, he raised taxes. >> he also cut taxes. >> but he did compromise. >> that's not true. >> and at that point, cantor's press secretary yelled off camera saying what i was saying wasn't true. >> they are going to have to get real here, e.j. they are going to have to deal with some truth and some facts. otherwise, we'll never move forward. >> i think there is a myth of reagan as a pure idealog and he's also the guy that rec recognized that gorbechov was not like the other soviet leaders. i think the republicans have been taxaphobic ever since george h.w. bush raised the taxes back in 1990. he lost the election. they have been afraid to do it

ever since. >> e.j. dionne, thank you so much for your time. have a nice great weekend. >> and great to be with you. thank you. coming up, karl rove finally has the answer. he knows exactly why he blew through $300 million for his billionaire buddies. you've got to hear this. and scott walker's so concerned about retirees that he want to get rid of same-day voting registration. i wonder what they think. he won't like the response. that's next. [ male announcer ] citi turns 200 this year.

in that time there've been some good days. and some difficult ones. but, through it all, we've persevered, supporting some of the biggest ideas in modern history. so why should our anniversary matter to you? because for 200 years, we've been helping ideas move from ambition to achievement. and the next great idea could be yours.

♪ when you give a child a toy, it has to work. ♪ make just one someone happy and when it's a toys for tots child, well, what could be more important? so this year, every hasbro toy donated to toys for tots will be powered by duracell. happy holidays. duracell with duralock. trusted everywhere. (announcer) when subaru owners look in the mirror, they see more than themselves. so we celebrate our year-end with the "share the love" event. get a great deal on a new subaru and 250 dollars goes to your choice of five charities. by the end of this, our fifth year, our total can reach almost 25 million dollars.

it's a nice reflection on us all. now through january 2nd.

after 36 years with same-day voter registration in wisconsin, governor scott walker thinks it's time for a change. >> the vast majority of poll workers work 13-hour days and in most cases are retirees and it's difficult for them to handle the valiant of folks. it would be much better if it was handled on election day. >> it would be much better. it's really difficult for the retirees to handle the volume. the government doesn't want to overwork the older poll watchers. hmm.

why would he want to do this? it must be because of the retirees he wants to help. it's definitely not because president obama won by 7 points. can it get any more obvious since the voter i.d. law walker signed is on hold? he's waiting for any way to suppress voters. "the huffington post" talked to wisconsin poll workers, including those in their 60s and 70s. they say walker's way is way off the mark. 61-year-old ruth irving says, this whole idea that this is somehow a burden on poll workers is just not true. 75 yeerd lenora says, quote, for walker to say that the people who are doing the registration can't keep up is just foolish. but the best response may be from 70-year-old sandra. quote, i haven't actually timed

it, but i would expect that voting would take twice as long if you have to show voter i.d. did walker think that he could pretend suppressing voters was all because of elderly election workers? nice time. but your own state poll watchers got you. something very interesn common. they have teachers... ...with a deeper knowledge of their subjects. as a result, their students achieve at a higher level. let's develop more stars in education. let's invest in our teachers... ...so they can inspire our students. let's solve this. well, having a ton of locations doesn't hurt. and a santa to boot! [ chuckles ] right, baby. oh, sir. that is a customer. oh...sorry about that. [ male announcer ] break from the holiday stress.

fedex office. part of a whole new line of tablets from dell. it's changing the conversation. ♪

try this... bayer? this isn't just a headache. trust me, this is new bayer migraine. [ male announcer ] it's the power of aspirin plus more in a triple action formula to relieve your tough migraines. new bayer migraine formula. you can stay in and share something... ♪ ♪ ...or you can get out there with your friends

and actually share something. ♪ the lexus december to remember sales event is on, offering some of our best values of the year. this is the pursuit of perfection. we're back with some breaking news. republicans are finally settling in on the reason for their election night catastrophe. this is a big moment. how about a round of applause? are you ready for this? their reason for the debacle is tone. that's right. tone. the fastest knew right wing gunslinger in texas, senator elect ted cruz explaining it this way.

up want to know why obama won 75% of the hispanic vote, tone on immigration contributed but i think far more important was the 47%. oh, yeah, the big romney call for self-deportation had nothing to do with it. nor did the gop's slew of other extremist position on immigration. and then there's mr. on-air meltdown himself, karl rove, the former gop king-maker. why not just come right out and call him the man who blew through $300 million? he said in his speech, he's no longer suicidal that president won. well, that's a relief. now mr. rove is just, quote, despondent. and here's his new theory on why they lost. what splinters the republican party is intolerant and judgmental language and an

unwillingness to acknowledge differences. so the big mystery the republicans have figured out their party just sounds to me is about their language. it's about their tone. nothing about their far right policies. hey, mr. rove, we fell for this before. remember the compassionate conservative? joining me now is molly ball with the atlantic magazine and her latest article on the down and out with ted cruz and the gop. here in the studio is dana milbank. he writes about the gop and it is urge to purge. thank you both for coming on the show tonight. >> good to be with you, reverend. >> thank you. >> molly, it seems like denial to me. why don't they just admit that

it's about their popular policies? >> well, i think you have a lot of different voices in the republican party saying different things. but there definitely is this group of far right conservatives who you can call it denial or just sincerely do not believe that the policies are the problems, that that's what has to change. other moderate voices saying we do have to adapt some different policies but they are saying, no, we lost this election because we didn't talk enough about abortion because we didn't embrace george wo. bush enough. we were afraid to attack him. and ted cruz was speaking at the speech that i attended last night, that we need to adopt a friendlier tone, particularly with respect to the hispanics. there are a lot of people saying, they are going to get what they asked for.

the country is in decline. this is all going to go to heck and then they will see how bad it is. >> dana, how do you tell people nicely to self-deport? is there a more mannerable and appealable way to say that? >> it's kind of nutty if you just look at what ted cruz said there. okay. it's the 47% remark that caused mitt romney to lose 71% of the latino vote. the polls before the 47% remark showed that he was losing 70%. in 2008 they lost 67% of the latino vote. it's not just the way the message is being pitched here. it's actually the theme that they are coming up with and some, like marco rubio, say we actually have to change the policy, not just the way that we're gift wrapping it. >> you know ted cruz and cruz is being raised as one of the new voices, new stars of the

republican party. has he always been to the right? has he always been to where he is now? or is he a politician that public pressure and the way public leanings go, he will adjust? >> he is an ivy league-educated politician. i first met him back in 1999 where he was a prominent architect of compassionate conservative and then he saw the tea party taking off. he's very good at reading which way the wind is blowing that he still thinks that there's something to be made by harnessing him to the tea party. at least he believes and at least down in texas he doesn't believe it's over. >> molly, you were down there for the cruz speech. let me raise another speech to you. karl rove, he still doesn't get it. at a speech in kansas this week, he blamed republican losses on moderates and conservatives going after each other. listen to this. >> i was involved in a group

called american crossroads. the worst volunteer job i've had in my life. i was in charge of raising money. we raised $324 million. and i got sick and tired of spending money in races where the moderate and conservatives had gone at each other and made victory impossible. >> now, mr. rove said it's infighting. now, i might add, he was the same guy that had predicted the day before the election that they were going to win and now all of a sudden he has a different analysis. but putting aside consistency, the infighting doesn't stop when you have true believesers on the tea party side of this argument. >> that's the problem. i don't think karl rove is wrong about this. the republican primary really hurt mitt romney. that's when he took a lot of those far right stands on things like immigration, largely for

political advantage to get rick perry out of his way. if you look at a lot of senate primaries that caused so much heartburn for karl rove, they would probably own senate seats in states like indiana and missouri right now if they hadn't gotten the candidates that they got out of those primary. but like you say, what can they do about these primary voters who are choosing these candidates, these far right candidates and this is, you know, possibly why it's a problem for the karl rove of the world. they represent the republican establishment and the republican establishment has very little control over the party in this day and age. >> but dana, the denial is all the way through even to the poll ters. when you look at new republican got a copy of romney's internal polling numbers and in which the internal polling he had predicted he would win new hampshire by more than three points and he'd win colorado by 2 1/2. in fact, he lost new hampshire

by almost 6 point and he lost colorado by 5. so all the way through, they were in denial and were seeing an election that wasn't there. he lost largely because they totally underestimated in their polling the african-american hispanic and youth turnout. >> and this is why karl rove had that election night meltdown because he was talking to the romney campaign and they said, this is impossible. we can't be losing this election. they were already preparing the transition and had the website ready to go. now i'm glad, as you are, that karl rove isn't suicidal but it wouldn't be so bad for him because he's been so euphoric in each election for the last 12 years that maybe it's time for him to reassess as he is doing. >> or maybe they should see that there's a new america out here that they are not talking to or polling. dana milbank and maully ball, thank you both.

have a great weekend. >> thank you. ahead, what would you do with $293 million? the first powerball winners have an idea. corporate america could learn from them. and the first dog bo unveils white house christmas decorations. stay with us. twins. i didn't see them coming. i have obligations. cute obligations, but obligations. i need to rethink the core of my portfolio. what i really need is sleep. introducing the ishares core, building blocks for the heart of your portfolio. find out why 9 out of 10 large professional investors choose ishares for their etfs. ishares by blackrock. call 1-800-ishares for a prospectus which includes

investment objectives, risks, charges and expenses. read and consider it carefully before investing. risk includes possible loss of principal. the distances aren't getting shorter. ♪ the trucks are going farther. the new 2013 ram 1500. ♪ with the best-in-class fuel economy. engineered to move heaven and earth. ♪ guts. glory. ram.

it's looking more and more like christmas at the white house. earlier this week first lady michelle obama officially unveiled this year's christmas decorations, including 54 christmas trees. but another member of the family seems to have had the final inspection. ♪ ♪ >> one decoration really caught bo's eyes.

♪ >> you've got to get him, bo. folks, that's a washington standoff everyone can enjoy. nes. or protect your family with a will or living trust. and you'd like the help of an attorney. at legalzoom a legal plan attorney is available in most states with every personalized document to answer questions. get started at legalzoom.com today. and now you're protected. i have a cold, and i took nyquil, but i'm still "stubbed" up. [ male announcer ] truth is, nyquil doesn't unstuff your nose. what? [ male announcer ] it doesn't have a decongestant. no way. [ male announcer ] sorry. alka-seltzer plus fights your worst cold symptoms plus has a fast acting decongestant to relieve your stuffy nose. [ sighs ] thanks! [ male announcer ] you're welcome. that's the cold truth! [ male announcer ] alka-seltzer plus. ♪ oh what a relief it is! ♪ [ male announcer ] to learn more about the cold truth and save $1 visit alka-seltzer on facebook.

campbell's has 24 new soups that will make it drop over, and over again. ♪ from jammin' jerk chicken, to creamy gouda bisque. see what's new from campbell's. it's amazing what soup can do.

the gop has a big problem with women and they have no clue how to deal with it. the other night we told you how the gop appointed 19 white men to chair house committees. today they attempted to solve their image problem. john boehner announced that gop congresswoman candace miller would chair a committee. wow. a woman ahead of a committee can. okay. so oh what exactly will she do?

miller's committee oversees the purchases of office equipment for congress and the botanical garden of congress and keep the house cafeteria up and running and oversee the disposition of useless executive papers. so let's get this straight. they want the one female republican committee chair to be an office manager, a librarian, an interior design ner, a lunch lady, and wants to make sure that the trash gets thrown out? today speaker boehner said, quote, candace has a big job ahead as chairman of the house administration committee. i think the republicans have a big job trying to fix their problem with women. joining me now is victoria de

francesco soto, a fellow at the university of texas and an msnbc contributor and irin carmon, a reporter at salon.com. thank you both for being here tonight. >> thank you. >> victoria, is the gop going to win over any woman with this gop appointment? >> the first thing i thought of was binders full of women. so women are just an afterthought in the gop. there's no strategy of how to incorporate them and it's interesting, given the 2010 election because in the 2010 election we saw a record number of republican women get elected at all levels of government. it was the year of sarah palin, mama grizzlies, elephants. so there was a little bit of momentum there and they could have moved it forward and they are tone deaf to the conservative women in their own

party and the general electorate. >> irin, they have a problem with women. when you look at the last election, they lost single women by 36 points. >> right. the fact remains that there fewer women voting as republicans and there's not much to offer women. i can't wait until they start talking about cutting medicaid which affects women of color and women. we have this situation where they are looking at the last minute first they say they don't believe in an affirmative position and the fact that there were only white men on the committee. they said we don't believe in quotas. overnight they have been leaving affirmative action in the least meaningful way. >> now, even newt gingrich wonders never cease. last night he was on the tonight

show. and he was saying that the gop has a diversity problem. listen to this. >> tell me if this is a problem. here are the gop chairs. everyone is a middle-age white guy. is there a diversity problem in the republican party? >> i think we were so wrong this year as a party that we really need to fundamentally rethink what we are doing. not just have the newest glib of answer from the same guys that were wrong but actually stop and look at what happened and what went wrong and what we didn't understand about how america is evolving and changing. >> victoria, you know you're in trouble when newt gingrich says you're wrong. >> and it's at every level. so it's a descriptive representation but at the core policy level, the policies are actually getting more conservative and more antagonistic towards women in terms of abortion, women against violence, in terms of health care. so they are actually going backwards rather than forwards. and if you want to chair these

committees, first of all, you need to get women of the electorate to support you, get them a weapon, and get them to committee chairmanships. i don't see progress on any front. >> irin, there is really tough stuff going on. 46 states now allow some health care providers to refuse to provide abortion services. and in those 46 states where a woman can be denied abortion services, there are 472 provisions restricting a woman's right to choose. this is some rough stuff. >> right. i think even if the election was a big mandate for the president, we can't forget that a lot of the action that i was going to move to the states, they still control a lot of statehouses. but another thing that i think is going to be really important and ties into this issue of committee members is that they could practically be walking around with a been ner that says no more todd akins. they want to find more women and

pr savvy and not say ridiculous things. keep in mind, they are going to talk about not changing any policies. >> it goes back to tone, not policy. >> right. >> it's the cosmetic layer on top of it and what's so frustrating about the graphic that you just showed is that states are in terrible financial straits. >> right. >> they are wasting time, looking at aborrowitions, fetus that you're going to put online rather than talking about school budgets and the children in these states and how we educate them. >> now, we actually have in nebraska an anti abortion legislation being pushed by groups that do exactly that. they want lawmakers that pass legislation that requires four-dimensional ultrasounds to be put on a website as part of an informed consent of abortion

statute. >> they are pretty effective in getting them passed but not in changing women's minds of abortion. i agree with you, it becomes a political theater around abortion where they try to keep and throw anything at the wall and nothing is happening in a substantive way. >> victoria and irin, we're going to be watching this closely. thank you for your time tonight. have a great weekend. >> thanks, rev. ahead, hey, republicans, meet america's newest powerball millionaire. you can learn from them. that's next. [ male announcer ] it's that time of year again.

time for citi price rewind. because your daughter really wants that pink castle thing. and you really don't want to pay more than you have to. only citi price rewind automatically searches for the lowest price. and if it finds one, you get refunded the difference. just use your citi card and register your purchase online. have a super sparkly day! ok. [ male announcer ] now all you need is a magic carriage. citi price rewind. buy now. save later.

part of a whole new line of tablets from dell. it's changing the conversation. ♪ it's changing the conversation. when you take a closer look... ...at the best schools in the world... ...you see they all have something very interesting in common. they have teachers... ...with a deeper knowledge of their subjects. as a result, their students achieve at a higher level. let's develop more stars in education. let's invest in our teachers... ...so they can inspire our students. let's solve this. i want to close tonight with two different very pictures. on the left, cindy and mark hill, the missouri couple who won $293 million in the

powerball lottery. and on the right, a box of twinkies. we'll talk about the twinkies photo in a moment. but, first, i want to tell you about cindy and mark hill. he's a mechanic. she was laid off from her job a couple of years ago and hasn't been able to find work since. it's been hard for them. but just listen to what they plan to do with their winnings. >> we have a very large family and and then next obviously is our charities that we'll be giving to. yeah, it's like how much does a person need, you know. >> how much does a person need? it's a good question. the hills are giving to charity. they are taking a little bit less so those less fortunate can have a little bit more. they'll be doing better so the society at large should do

somewhat better as well. it's a lesson that hostess, the owner of twinkie has not learned. they are giving bonuses to the top executives. meanwhile, 18 thourk workers will get laid off. that's 18,000 families wondering how they will put food on the table. 18,000 families wondering if they can afford to go to the doctor, wondering how they will pay for gifts this christmas. 19 hostess executives are securing their own golden parachute while 18,000 families are faying a facing a crash landing. it's not right. especially this time of year and with the debate that we're having right now in washington. you know, it's not about givers and takers. it's about value. it's about those that say i don't need to have it